Digital Skills Programmes

THE FUTURE OF THE FIRM IN PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Professional services firms have played a vital role in maintaining professional and legal standards in business and society for hundreds of years, and despite recent fears over the impact of technology, the need for professional expertise and advice is likely to endure.

But with technology platforms and providers threatening to automate or commoditise areas of existing practice, how do traditional firms respond? And what does new technology mean for the future shape and structure of the firm? Can firms embrace new technology to augment and enhance their expertise and experience, or will they fall behind?

We have been at the forefront of applying new social and digital technology in the professional services sector for over a decade, and we see more opportunities than threats to existing successful firms if they can improve their organisational structure and become less bureaucratic. See below for examples of how we are helping firms adapt and succeed with digital transformation.

TYPICAL CHALLENGES

Future firm strategy & structure

Cross-department digital strategy

Digital engagement across the firm

Digital skills development

New technology-based services

Preparing for a world of data / AI

Non-traditional startup competitors

New digital products & services

FUTURE FIRMS

Law, accounting and consulting firms are starting to consider what the future firm will look like in a digital world. Those that can capitalise on traditional strengths whilst upgrading their structures and operations to cope with complex markets will survive and thrive.

TECHNOLOGY & PLATFORMS

The role of IT in professional services firms is changing, and there is a real need to support strategic organisational capabilities, not just basic apps and services. We have deep experience helping firms embrace new platforms and technology without disrupting operations.

DIGITAL SKILLS

The influx of younger employees will not magically close the digital skills gap. Digital skills programmes for partners, fee earners and employees can be an important accelerant that save time and money in smoothing the way for the adoption of new tools and ways of working.

SELECTED BLOG POSTS

I had a very interesting session last week with procurement leads responsible for sourcing legal and consulting work for major organisations. I came to the session wanting to talk about service-oriented, not product- or project-oriented strategic sourcing, and to lay...

In five years, will professional services firms look a bit more like software companies? On first glance, this might seem implausible. For a very long time, firms have been organised around fee earning partners who crafted reputations based upon expertise and...

Much has been written - both in our blog and elsewhere - about the many barriers to achieving the meaningful and sustainable digital transformation needed for businesses to operate in the challenging business conditions prevailing in the early 21st Century. From...

Do insurers get FinTech? Coming at a time when, according to Gartner, "half of CEOs expect their industries to be substantially or unrecognizably transformed by digital”, the apparent lack of engagement with FinTech displayed by insurers in a recent PwC US...

This is a summary of a talk I gave this week to the Stuttgart Social Forum at the Bosch R&D Campus in Renningen, and you can view the accompanying slides here. What is the use case for organisational structure? The rise of social technology in the workplace...

Many sectors and types of firm are at risk of disruption from digital business models and services, and their organisational structures and practices face a myriad of challenges rooted in new technologies and the ways of working they make possible. Professional...